Map Signs
Map Signs refer to different signs around the server that are involved with setting checkpoints, joining maps, and more. These signs universally have square brackets on the second line surrounding a word indicating what they do. All wood types can be map signs.
Contents
Common Signs
There are several map signs that are frequently used or required in maps. These signs, including those on walls, are double sided.
Join Signs
Join signs, noted with [Join ???] on the second line, allow players to join maps without needing to run commands, as every map has a join sign in spawn. Left clicking a join sign will tell the player if they have beaten the associated map, and right clicking the sign will send the player into the map, set their checkpoint to the starting checkpoint in the map, and start the map's timer.
Join signs are rarely contained within maps themselves. One of the most common uses is for hub maps, such as Another Castle, to join maps contained in the hub. All join signs also contain the map's release date to FFA on the third line.1
Checkpoint Signs
Checkpoint signs, noted with [Checkpoint] on the second line, allow players to return back to a set point in the map if they die (including via commands, such as /kill and /die). Joining maps will automatically set the player's checkpoint to checkpoint 0, the starting checkpoint. Clicking the first checkpoint sign will also restart the timer. All joinable maps have a starting checkpoint sign.2
Many maps have more than one checkpoint. The checkpoint number for middle checkpoints will be contained in the second line before the closing square bracket. Since the starting checkpoint is considered checkpoint 0, the first middle checkpoint will have a [Checkpoint1] sign. In the example to the right from the map Odysseus, it is the sixth middle checkpoint.
The third line of checkpoint signs will always show the mapcode, a shortened set of unique letters that refers to a map. For example, the mapcode for Odysseus is odys. All maps have a mapcode and are usually a shortened form of the map's name.3
Finish Signs
All FFA and FFA+ maps have finish/end signs, noted by [Finish ???] on the second line. Clicking finish signs will send the player to spawn and award them FFA Points if it is their first time completing that map. The number of points awarded depends on the map's difficulty. Hitting a finish sign will also stop the player's timer for that map and run through the time saving routine, including awarding speedrun score, if the time is a new personal best.
Quit Signs
Quit signs send the player to spawn. Most maps do not contain these; old maps are typically the ones that have quit signs.
Challenge Interactions
Challenges can react to map signs differently than playing a map normally would.
- Being in a challenge prevents the player from using join signs. The player is required to quit the challenge to use a join sign.
- Some challenges types, such as no checkpoint and limited checkpoint challenges, prevent or limit the number of times checkpoint signs can be used in a map.
- Clicking a finish sign will warp the player to the beginning of the next map in the challenge, as well as award points and speedrun score if necessary.
Challenge Signs
Challenge signs, noted with [Challenge] on the second line, function similarly to join signs except that they send the player to the first map of a challenge. These are only seen in spawn aside from some rare edge cases.4
Obsolete Signs
There are several old signs that are no longer in use that can be found by searching old or extremely niche maps. Many of these signs also include "ffa-c-???" mapcodes for back when it was the required format.
Falsebook Signs
Falsebook was a server plugin used in the server's early days that could function as command blocks if redstone wired into it. This plugin also allow players to create buy and sell chests and to play slots long before the Arcade. Falsebook eventually stopped receiving updates, so most of these features would become impossible for a long time. Several old maps have visible Falsebook signs.
Slots Signs
Slots are unique in that they were revived by the Arcade while City Spawn and Frozen Spawn were in use. Chillers used c_dric's slots script to update many of the signs in old locations, such as Fortuna, to use Arcade Credits. While the scripts still function, there is no longer a way to receive Arcade Credits to use for slots.
Warp Signs
Several old maps and Hardcore versions used [CheckpointW] signs to teleport players instead of needing command blocks. As scripts became more powerful and were able to handle these functions, warp signs were slowly phased out and eventually were no longer recognized by the server.
Point Signs
Instead of the finish signs that exist today, points used to be given by [CheckpointP?] signs that awarded the number of points on the sign. Map information, such as difficulty, was not initially stored plugin-side, so these point signs were the only hardcoded method the server recognized for giving points. This led to several issues, such as maps being removed or changing difficulty leading to point desyncs between players depending on when or if they could click the points sign.
Trivia
- Hanging signs can theoretically function as map signs except for one glaring issue: they have much less space per line. Quit signs function fine, both join and finish signs are reliant on the mapcode length to fit, and checkpoint signs cannot fit the end bracket.
- Several maps and areas, including Mimic, have fake map signs meant to simulate what the sign used to do or to have a story impact in a map.
Notes
- The release date on join signs will only display if the map has a valid release date. For maps that have unknown release dates or were never in FFA, such as several maps that exist in Mount Minr, the third line will be blank.
- Secret maps are not required to have starting checkpoint signs.
- While all maps have mapcodes, these codes are set when creating the map and can be anything alphanumeric. As an example, A Swift Adventure uses map code 13. There have also been trends to make these map codes related words instead of shorthands of titles, such as the mapcode pact for Dark Pact, or to include the creator's name in the mapcode, such as the mapcode 19u for 1900JPinoy's Universe (Planets).
- There are fringe locations where challenge signs exist outside of spawn. Some warps, like Hexa, has challenge signs for the Hexa chapter challenges. Iris, due to being a secret map with two challenges containing only itself, has challenge signs as well.